Rest and Be Thankful

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“Give me the splendid silent sun,

with all his beams full-dazzling;

Give me juicy autumnal fruit, ripe

and red from the orchard;

Give me a field where the

unmow’d grass grows;

Give me an arbor, give me the trellis’d grape;

Give me fresh corn and wheat – give me

serene-moving animals, teaching content.”

– Walt Whitman –

“Rest and be thankful.”

– William Wordsworth –

Nurture peace, cultivate loving kindness, carry the calm, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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The Stirring of the Wind

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“A leaf quivers on a branch and my heart trembles

the wind stirs the leaves and beauty stirs my heart.”

– Rumi –

Pay deep attention to the stirring of the wind,

the stirring of the spirit,

the stirring of beauty in the heart.

Hold this treasure close.

Nurture peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Turning Ruts into Adventures

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“There was a warm sunset over the wooded valleys,

a yellowish tinge on the pines.

Reddish dun-coloured clouds like dusky flames stood over it. . .

Before, I walked in the ruts of travel;

now I adventured.”

Henry David Thoreau

A French saying commonly attributed to writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr says, “Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns: I am grateful that thorns have roses.” G.K. Chesterton made the same point in a different way: “An adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.” We can choose to see thorns or roses, inconveniences or adventures. We might as well choose roses and adventures.

Pay attention. See adventure. Nurture peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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How Autumn Conspires with the Sun

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“To Autumn”

Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness!

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;

To bend with apples the mossed cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For summer has o’erbrimmed their clammy cells.

– John Keats –

May you journey through autumn with your heart open wide to its bounty. Pay attention. Nurture peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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In Your Own Shadow

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“Stop walking in your own shadow

wallowing in your foolish thoughts.

Raise your head . . . walk

among the flowers . . .

look toward the sun.”

– Rumi –

Pay attention. Nurture peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week :

Shadow of the Week :

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A Greater Mystery

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“It is sometimes the mystery of death

that brings one to a consciousness

of the still greater mystery of life.”

– Kate Douglas Wiggin

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

I’m in Texas this week with my Dad and my three younger sisters at my mother’s hospital bedside in ICU as she breathes with the help of oxygen. Mother is 90 years old, and from her hospital bed, she has been writing her good-byes on sheets of paper on a clipboard – amazingly, without looking at pen or paper. We don’t know what will happen from one moment to the next, but we do know that each breath is precious.

Pay deep attention. Breathe in the mystery of life; breathe out gratitude. Nurture peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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For my posts on life, faith, and the mystery we call God, link here.

Like Silence, Listening

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

“I saw old Autumn in the misty morn

Stand shadowless like silence, listening

To silence.”

– Thomas Hood –

Pay deep attention. Listen to silence. Nurture peace, cultivate loving-kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week –autumn sun shining through coleus leaves:

Shadow of the Week:

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Every Leaf a Flower

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

From Le Malentendu by Albert Camus –

Martha: What is autumn?

Jan: A second spring, where every leaf is a flower.

If autumn is beginning to display her colors in your part of the world, I hope you can pause for a moment to breathe deeply of her beauty as she quietly and steadily transforms into a second, and very rich, spring.

Pay deep attention. Nurture peace, cultivate loving-kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week – signs of autumn found on my back deck:

Shadow of the Week – on my garden shoes:

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For my posts on life, faith, and the mystery we call God, link here. http://karynhenley.com

The Whisper of Our Spirits

Posted by karynhenleyauthor

Remember the advice we were given in Driver’s Ed about approaching railroad tracks? Stop, Look, and Listen. It’s the wisdom of the crossroads. It’s also the deepest call of our spirits, whispering to us as we journey through life: Stop, Look, and Listen. Pay attention.

“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.”

– Simone Weil –

Be generous. Pay deep attention. Nurture peace, cultivate loving-kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week – cannas after the rain: